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The Balance Of Power
Darkstorm is desperate for a new weapon to tip the balance of power between the Visionaries. Reekon and Mortdred may have just found one. Synopsis Having been deposited at the base of Iron Mountain, the Visionaries are again warned by Merklynn that they now possess power that could save Prysmos or destroy it. Reekon angrily brings up the lack of powers given to those without staffs again, backed up by Ectar, but is again assured by Merklynn that they will discover their own powers soon enough. Not pleased with this, Reekon attempts to take Witterquick's power staff by force, sparking another full-scale brawl between the two groups of knights. Lexor finds his head filling with strange words while under attack from Galadria, which, when spoken aloud, activates the power of Invulnerability from his staff to protect him from harm. Witterquick feels the same sensation while coming to Galadria's aid and is able to activate Light Speed to dodge an attack from Lexor. A few paces away, Cindarr and Cryotek have renewed their rivalry. Driven by anger, Cryotek assumes his bear totem form and attempts to crush his enemy. Cindarr counters with Destruction, triggering an earthquake that frees him. Amongst the pandemonium, Feryl spots Reekon getting an advantage over Ectar and jumps in to save his friend. Before Ectar can renew his attack on Reekon, the brawl is broken up by Leoric, who lectures the group on their irresponsible actions, wasting their new powers on settling old scores and pointless fighting. He insists that they must all stop fighting and learn to use their powers to restore order to Prysmos. To Leoric's surprise, he's backed up by Darkstorm, although the Darkling Lord orders his troops to break off so they can learn their new powers fully and plan for war. He makes an open offer for membership to the Darkling Lords, which Virulina accepts, and departs the field. Leoric and his allies repair to New Valarak and confer. Galadria expresses frustration at not knowing what her power is, but is reassured by Leoric that she, Feryl and Ectar will surely learn of their new powers if they all stay and train together in New Valarak. In the face of potential war with the Darkling Lords, the group take an oath to stand together. The Darkling Lords are have similar worries. Reekon and Virulina are insistent that, despite their lack of staffs, they're just as valuable as the other Darkling Lords (though they're not convinced by Mortdred). Darkstorm plays on Reekon's need to prove his worth by ordering him to find some kind of new weapon with which he can tip the balance of power between himself and Leoric. Before he can do that though, Reekon is sent with Mortdred to get Darkstorm's armour cleaned by the blacksmith Harkon. Mortdred explains the honour of the task to his surly ally, that Harkon was a brilliant engineer during the Age of Science. Reekon scoffs that this matters nothing in the Age of Magic and that he's now simply another blacksmith, but is impressed nonetheless by the contents of Harkon's shop, which is filled with vehicles. Harkon welcomes the two, while moaning of the heat of the forge compared to the air conditioning he was so used to during the Age of Science. He sets about fixing Darkstorm's armour. but Reekon is more interested by a tarp covering a strange shape. Harkon tells him it's a hobby he was working on, now made useless by the return of magic. Removing the tarp, Reekon reveals the Sky Claw. Despite acknowledging that it is useless, Reekon finds himself drawn to the vehicle. Upon placing a hand on the vehicle though, it lights up with power! Amazed, Mortdred also touches the Sky Claw and finds that the totem from his chest plate has transferred to the panels of the craft. He wonders if powering vehicles is the ability Merklynn promised in lieu of power staffs. Urged on by Reekon, Mortdred takes the Sky Claw out for a test flight and is amazed by how responsive it is to his mental commands. Reekon and Mortdred eagerly ask Harkon if he can build more Sky Claws, but he is unable, instead telling them of a half-finished vehicle that he's willing to finish off for them. Thrilled to see his device running, Harkon jumps in to try it for himself, but is crushed to discover that it won't respond to him. Back at his castle, Darkstorm is conferring with Cravex on how best to glean information from Leoric's stronghold, when their attention is drawn by the Sky Claw buzzing past their window. Rushing to meet it at the entrance, Darkstorm is delighted at having a new weapon to use against Leoric. Later, the Darkling Lords celebrate their new weapon and debate whether they should use it immediately. Lexor suggests they shouldn't rush into an attack, which Darkstorm agrees with. As he rants about what he will do to Leoric, it causes Reekon to muse quietly to Mortdred whether Darkstorm is as much of a coward as Lexor, spurring Mortdred to beat him down. After Cindarr breaks up the melee, Darkstorm kicks Mortdred out for being a disruptive influence, to the amusement of the other Lords. Embarrassed and desperate to prove himself, Mortdred secretly takes the sky Claw out to stage an attack on Leoric and impress Darkstorm. The Sky Claw scythes through the defences of New Valarak, waking the Spectral Knights, who quickly deduce that it must be a magically powered weapon of Darkstorm's. In the frenzy of the attack, Arzon is able to activate Knowledge, which gives him a sense of total recall and a degree of omniscience. Brimming with information, Arzon instructs Feryl to hit the undercarriage of the Sky Claw with his mace, targeting a weak spot. As the Sky Claw careens wildly, the Spectral Knights spot the approach on horseback of the other Darkling Lords. As the battle is joined again, Ectar dashes up a tree to leap down on Lexor. Unfortunately for him, Lexor manages to spot him in time to activate Invulnerability, leaving Ectar's attack ineffective. Arzon changes to his Eagle totem to evade Cravex and Cindarr. Meanwhile, Mortdred has the Sky Claw back under control, thanks to its ability to repair itself. He spots Leoric looking to attack Darkstorm, so swoops in to make his own play, but is foiled when Arzon lands on the Sky Claw, transforms back to his human form and hits him. The Sky Claw fires wildly, hitting Darkstorm's chariot. As the Sky Claw crashes, Mortdred becomes his beetle totem and rushes to Darkstorm's side. Reekon instructs him to get Darkstorm back on his chariot and lead a retreat. The next morning, Mortdred is brought before the injured Darkstorm, who chastises him for not only injuring him, but losing the Sky Claw. Mortdred is thrown into the castle dungeon to stew in his own self-pity. Characters In order of appearance Quotes "Can't let you have it! Call me impulsive, but I've a feeling I'll need my staff to help rebuild the world!" :—Long story short, Reekon isn't getting Witterquick's staff anytime soon. "Stop your fighting, all of you! Are you warriors or madmen? Think of the power we now possess -- and look how you're using it! Fighting among ourselves -- like children in a schoolyard! We have a world to rebuild! Is this any way to begin?" :— Leoric reads the other Visionaries the Riot Act. "What good is a scientist in a world of magic? About as much use as an extra nose. Brilliant of not, he's just another blacksmith now. It's a new age, Mortdred and the old skills don't much matter any more. Judge a man by his strength, not his brains, that's what I say..." :—'Reekon' shares his view on the world with Mortdred. "Gods of Prysmos! It's as if a light were shining through my brain! Suddenly everything I ever read, everything I ever knew -- returns to me! Knowledge! Merklyn's gift to me is the magic power of--" SHAWOOM! :— Arzon's revelation is interrupted by an explosion. Don't do drugs, kids. "My fault? Oh, yes, blame me, blame faithful Mortdred! While you speak against him, I've been my lord Darkstorm's only true friend and loyal subject!" :— Mortdred responds to an angry Reekon after the Sky Claw disaster, but doesn't exactly help his cause. Notes Trivia *Off-model weapons are still abound. Leoric alternates between his traditional whip and a double-pronged weapon that resembles Feryl's electro-charged knife. Meanwhile, Feryl himself retains his odd spinning top-esque mace, Cryotek has a very wide sword, and Ectar has the bladed propeller-like mace from last issue, though he is shown with his normal claw weapon by the end of the issue (with no explanation). Witterquick seemingly has no weapon at all. * Harkon's workshop contains a vehicle that roughly resembles early concept art for the Lancer Cycle. *Harkon remarks that he hasn't "heard the hum of servos and turbines in years!" suggesting that the Age of Science ended quite a while ago. This is somewhat at odds with the previous issue, where it's presented as only a few months. *Mortdred's totem moving to the Sky Claw is an interesting way of giving him ownership of the vehicle (to make clear that his action figure is bundled with the toy of it) but it doesn't entirely make sense, as the images on the Sky Claw's panel aren't Mortdred's beetle. Despite this Reekon explicitly states that the "craft wears your symbol". *Though starting from a common point and sharing some plot points, this issue sees the comic diverge from the animated series. *How needy is Darkstorm? Has magical powers for two seconds and is already desperate for something else to give him an edge over Leoric. *Speaking of Leoric, he transforms into his Lion totem form for the first and only time in the comic. That's still one better than Darkstorm, who never changes into the Mollusk at all. *The Archer from Cryotek's power staff of Strength is prominently displayed on the cover despite never appearing in the series itself. *Lexor uses his Invulnerability power twice in this issue. This is the first of several instances in the comic where characters activate their staffs more than once without requiring a recharge, in contrast to the one-time usage in the animated series. Errors *On the first page, Feryl is miscoloured as Darkstorm. *Reekon gets a complete makeover for one panel on page 9: his outfit is a solid green and his hair is black. *On page 18, Ectar is seen speaking Arzon's Knowledge incantation while his hand glows green for some reason. This is compounded by the thought bubble in the next panel also being attributed to him while Arzon himself is standing far left in the frame. Continuity notes *First appearance of the Sky Claw. *Virulina formally joins the Darkling Lords. *The title "Spectral Knights" is first used, but only by Mortdred while attacking the group, who neither use nor acknowledge it. This is especially odd as there's a prime moment for them to coin it in this issue, when they all swear their oath to work together. *From this issue onwards, the series switches to the variant spellings "Merklyn" and "Mortdred". Reprintings *''Visionaries'' (Marvel UK) #3 References Category:Star Comics Category:Media Category:Fiction